Ludwig von Heßberg

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Ludwig von Heßberg , also Ludwig von Hesberg or Louis von Hesberg , (born May 15, 1788 in Betzigerode , † May 1, 1872 in Kassel ) was a Prussian , later Westphalian and finally Kurhessian officer and a religious zealot.

family

He was the youngest son of the landowner and Hesse-Kassel captain a. D. Ernst Ludwig von Heßberg (1738–1796) from his first marriage to Marie Wilhelmine born. Goddaeus (1749–1788), daughter of the Hesse-Kassel major Heinrich Goddaeus and his wife Dorothea Elisabeth born. Ewald. His mother died in childbed the day after his birth, and his father married her 13 years younger sister Marie Amalie Goddaeus (1762–1802) the following year.

Ludwig was the youngest brother of the Hesse electoral war minister Georg von Heßberg (1777-1852). Three other brothers were killed in Napoleon's Russian campaign in 1812 .

The von Heßberg family has been part of the Althessian knighthood since 1820 .

Life

Following a family tradition, he joined the military at an early age. At the age of twelve he became a cadet in the Prussian army in 1800 . Six years later he fought in the rank of second lieutenant at Jena . He then quit Prussian service and joined the army of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Westphalia, where he served with the guards hunters until the Wars of Liberation . In June 1810 he was promoted to prime lieutenant and in 1812 to captain . During Napoleon's Russian campaign in 1812 , he took part in the battles at Smolensk , Borodino and the Berezina . In December 1813, after the end of the Kingdom of Westphalia, he entered service in the Elector of Hesse and took part in the 1814/15 campaigns against Napoleon as a captain in the 3rd Kurhessian Line Infantry Regiment . In 1829 he was promoted to major and appointed battalion commander in the same regiment. In 1833 he retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel à la suite .

Hessberg began in 1838 to compose his “call for the establishment of a Christian community” and published it in 1840. In it he called for the establishment of the kingdom of God on earth. A central point was the abandonment of almost all property in favor of common property. Despite considerable effort, Heßberg did not succeed in establishing a community on this basis. Shortly after its publication, Heßberg lost his à la suite position, and he then withdrew completely from the public.

It is noteworthy, however, that Heßberg influenced the early German labor movement in Switzerland with his ideas through Wilhelm Weitling .

Ludwig von Heßberg died at the age of 84 on May 1, 1872 in Kassel.

Works

  • Call to found a Christian community based on the image of the Savior and in fulfillment of the law  : the reconciliation of the world with God, received at Cassel on August 6, 1838. Self-published. Kassel 1840.

literature

personal data
SURNAME Heßberg, Ludwig von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Heßberg, Louis von; Hesberg, Louis of
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer and religious zealot
DATE OF BIRTH May 15, 1788
PLACE OF BIRTH Betzigerode
DATE OF DEATH May 1, 1872
Place of death kassel